"God Bless America" has been played at countless sporting events, but Lady Gaga took it to new heights when she sang it from the top of the stadium at the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. Coming just months after the election of Donald Trump, America was divided politically, but Gaga pledged to keep politics out of her performance. She did make a statement of sort with her opening number, where after doing a verse from "God Bless America," she did a verse from "This Land Is Your Land," the song Woody Guthrie wrote to parody "God Bless America." Before jumping to the field, she recited a bit from the Pledge of Allegiance:
Cheap Trick hated the ballad "The Flame" but recorded it because they needed a hit, and the song delivered, going to #1.
With a message of acceptance and inclusivity, "True Colors" became a gay rights anthem. Cyndi Lauper help form an organization called True Colors United to help support LGBTQ youth.
The closing lyrics in "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies are "Birchmount Stadium, home of the Robbie," which refers to a soccer tournament in Ontario.
Most of us only know "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle from the 25 seconds used as the Cops theme, but it's a full song telling the story of a Jamaican youth who doesn't accept family support and ends up a criminal.
The "Ms. Jackson" in the OutKast song is Erykah Badu's mother. Andre 3000 had a child with Badu, and felt she was portraying him as a lousy dad.
The Grateful Dead considered "whipping that chain" and "lugging propane," but settled on "high on cocaine" for "Casey Jones."
Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.
Based on criteria like girlfriend tension, stage mishaps and drummer turnover, these are the 10 bands most like Spinal Tap.
Katy Perry mentions McDonald's, Beyoncé calls out Red Lobster, and Supertramp shouts out Taco Bell - we found the 10 restaurants most often mentioned in songs.
Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.
Zac tells the story of Hanson's massive hit "MMMbop," and talks about how brotherly bonds effect their music.
Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.